Two people, an adventure and a lot of snow

An ancient, high and creepy looking castle towered over the river. Flocks of black crows flew around the sharp spire flapping their wings and croaking loudly. Black clouds completed this picture, making it even more sinister. The clouds may have been caused by the strange aura of this place, but most likely they were just precursors of the blizzard that forecasters promised tonight.

Two lone figures – a man and a woman – stood in front of a massive iron door of the castle. They were a journalist and an editor of a small publication of a tiny town. That day the castle was their workplace. The young woman’s name was Emily, and she looked at the magnificent building in awe.

“Are we going to enter or what? Don’t forget it’s Sunday, and I’m working because of you! It’s cold here, by the way!” said black-haired Mark. He looked annoyed and angry.

“You shouldn’t have come with me if that’s so hard for you!” Emily answered. “I needed a photographer not an editor!”

“You seem to forget that our dear Bob is getting married today. Besides, he has his well-deserved day-off today. And same goes about me, but I have to work, because somebody didn’t manage to write their article on time and has to finish it by tomorrow, because tomorrow a new issue of the magazine is coming out”.

“I had reasons, okay?” announced Emily, pushing the door.

“You always have reasons…,” grimaced her companion, following.

Mark and Emily never got along very well. You could even say that they hated each other. Mark was annoyed by Emily’s laziness and recklessness. She was annoyed by constant complaints and dissatisfaction of her colleague. Apart from all that, Mark was boss’s best friend and that is something that other employees don’t usually like.

Travelers went inside the castle and found themselves in a large high hall. There everything was dusty and covered with cobwebs, as if it had been abandoned for a long time. Everything was quiet. Only the wind howled and their footsteps echoed in the half-empty room.

Emily was a twenty-four-year-old young woman who graduated as a journalist two years ago. The first year after graduation, she looked for a job, but unsuccessfully. She was employed at many places, but each time there was a reason for dismissal: either at the request of the employer or Emily herself. Finally, at the end of last year she found a little edition, and she was accepted as an intern. Emily was not the best employee. She was creative and hardworking, her articles were excellent, some of the best articles in this magazine, but the woman often submitted them too late, which caused inconvenience to some of her colleagues, same as to Mark this time. But due to the lack of better candidates Emily was kept to work in this publication.

Seven people worked in the edition. They were the boss, the editor (Mark), three journalists (Emily was one of them), a photographer (the same one who was getting married that day) and a typesetter. In general, all the employees just got along with each other, except for two cases: Mark and the boss, who were best friends, and Mark and Emily, who openly showed their mutual dislike. That was why neither Emily nor Mark were happy about spending a few additional hours in each other’s company.

Half an hour later, visitors had gone around the entire first floor and, in addition to the large hall, found two smaller, but just as dusty rooms and stairs leading up and down. Both directions were blocked by stones, there seemed to have been a rockfall. However, it would have been quite easy to clear the stairs to the basement, but apparently nobody was interested in such an idea.

“I hope there is no rockfall coming tonight,” Emily decided to express her fears.

“Yeah, ‘cause my death would be on your conscience. Why is it so difficult for you to submit your article on time?”

“I already told you: I had reasons which I’m not going to share with you!”

“How could I forget,” he rolled his eyes.

Emily had opened her mouth to answer – probably something rude – but she was interrupted by a strong blow of wind which creaked open one of the windows and let the cold inside. They both turned their heads toward the window and saw that it was snowing heavily. The wind was catching snowflakes in midair making them perform a crazy dance before landing on the ground.

“Oh no! There was a blizzard forecast for tonight. But they promised it no earlier than midnight,” gasped Emily.

“Keep on believing in forecasts and horoscopes,” sneered her companion, but his face expressed a tiny hint of fear and concern – something Emily had never expected from such an "ideal" man who always pretended that everything was under control.

Meanwhile, the blizzard intensified with each passing second. They no longer could see the car by which they had come there. Snow hid everything around the building from view like a big all-consuming wall. A small handful of white powder was already lying on the floor of the castle hall, having flown through the window. Mark approached and closed it as well as the old shabby window would allow.

“I'm not going there,” said Emily, as if someone were forcing her to.

“Going there is not really recommended. This is a strong blizzard, you know”, he started in a joking tone, but then switched to serious. “Even if we managed to get to the car, we would not be able to go, that’s for sure. It’s better to stay here”.

“So… What are we going to do?”

“We’ll wait till it’s over.”

“What if it goes on for days? We’ll starve to death!”

“No, we’ll die of cold faster.”

“What? No! We have to do something! We can’t just wait.”

“Ok, do whatever you think we should! Go on!”

“Call our boss”, Emily said after a little pause. “You’re friends. He’ll help. Or he can find someone who’ll help”.

Another pause.

“Please?” added the woman.

“That’s better. I must admit it’s a good idea. But don’t forget who got us into this mess”.

And with these words he went out into another room, dialing Mr. Parker's phone number along the way. The boss did not pick up the phone, so Mark sent him a message. He then returned to the main hall, where Emily had taken out a laptop and sat down by the wall onto her backpack.

“I thought I better get to work since we’re obviously locked here for long”, she explained.

“Is this the blizzard affecting you or is there some magic in this castle? You seem to show signs of sanity. Well done,” Mark nodded.

At first Emily wanted to say something rude to him, but then she realized that it was really his way of saying something good and decided to just smile instead of an answer.

“By the way,” the man continued, “Why are we here of all places? What is so special about this castle?”

“My sister is a guide,” Emily said without taking her eyes off the screen. “She led tours here, but since last week they have been forbidden to do so. The reason was not explained. Some say it's because of the rocks chipping off the ceiling, which sometimes happens here. Some say that there have been rockfalls here before, but the castle has been closed only now, so the reason must be somewhat mystical and supernatural. It seemed to me that an article on this topic would be interesting, don’t you agree?”

“That is, we are here illegally? Once entering is forbidden… What have you involved me in?”

Emily just giggled.

“Aren't you surprised that there is no fencing tape or signs near the castle that would indicate that it is forbidden to enter?”

Mark squinted.

“Yeah…“

“It surprises me, too,” the young woman whispered.

There was a mysterious and a little frightening silence. Only the wind whistled and moaned in the empty rooms of the castle. A few minutes later Emily dispelled that creepy mood by saying:

“You better hurry up and take photos. Today you’re a photographer, not an editor, remember?”

They spent more than an hour working on the article: Emily wrote, and Mark took pictures of all the rooms. From time to time they talked: Emily asked which word was better to use, Mark asked how things were going. Of course, he couldn’t do without a few of his sarcastic jokes. They almost did not notice how little by little they began to turn from enemies into a good team.

It was getting dark, and the blizzard didn't show even the slightest signs of ending, on the contrary, it seemed to only get stronger. The article was completely ready for print, Mark even managed to edit it. Their work in the castle was over. But they still could not leave it.

Then the games on the phone started, when they ran out of charge, they started playing all sorts of word games, but their sentence was steadily approaching.

Boredom. Hunger. And the cold.

Emily got desperate. She approached the window and opened it.

“Aren’t you cold enough? Want more adventures?” asked Mark, watching her in disbelief.

“Dear blizzard, could you please finish. I don't want to die yet. Especially with this man. And I need to go home. Maybe take a short break, I'll get home, and then rage as much as you want!”

“Are you aware of the fact that you’re talking to the snow?”

“Well, it’s more interesting than talking to you!” Emily said it, but she didn’t feel that way anymore. Mark was actually fun and unpredictable to communicate with. Or at least he was such in this situation.

Meanwhile, the snow was racing out of the window, minding its own business.

“If I were to choose a person to die with, you wouldn’t be the first one on the list either.” added the man. “But we won’t die. Not out of boredom anyway. Because I just had an idea. Remember those stairs to the basement? I think we could unblock them. You have already written an article for this week, but a new one is needed next week,” and he winked spectacularly at the end of the sentence.

***

As there was no lighting in the castle, the travelers had to use an old flashlight, which they found in the main hall. Apparently, by a happy coincidence, he was lost by a tourist when visits to the castle were still allowed.

Disassemble the blockages was not so easy. Although there were far fewer stones there than on the stairs leading up, this did not diminish their weight at all. When Emily had lost hope and decided that boredom was better than hard physical work, the last stone gave in and their way forward became free.

"Are you sure?" the young woman asked. "You understand that we go where it is forbidden to go. Who knows what awaits us there. What if there is another rockfall? Or something worse ..."

"And is that you talking about bans and rockfalls? Remind me, who brought us here?"

"Okay, okay, stop blaming me. Go first."

Mark smiled sarcastically and squinted, but still walked to the shabby old wooden door. They creaked deafeningly as they opened. It was dark below. Even darker than on the first floor. The editor began to descend the shaky stairs. Emily followed, feeling a sudden urge to take the hand of the man she had hated so much until recently.

Suddenly Mark stopped and Emily almost walked into him.

"This castle is probably haunted".

"What?” Emily knew perfectly well that he did not believe in ghosts. “If this is one of your jokes ..."

"Look," he interrupted her, and pointed in front of him.

A beam of light generated by a flashlight snatched a rectangular room from the darkness. It was littered with various rubbish stacked as if in a hurry. At first Emily didn't realize what was wrong, but then she was struck by the thought that all the things in the castle were covered with a thick layer of dust, and these were not. They looked as if they had been put here yesterday. The strong smell of rotten meat didn’t help either.

"Do you really think there are ghosts in the castle?" the young woman broke the silence. Her voice trembled and her mouth went dry.

"I think the explanation is much simpler," Mark said calmly, walking over to the chest closest to him and looking inside. "It's someone's hiding place. And not old Count Dracula’s, not at all. It's a hiding place for one of our contemporaries. All this jewelry and money is most likely stolen."

They went a little further, when suddenly Emily gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Mark immediately came closer. In the shadows in the corner lay the body of a man in his forties. Much later, they learned that the basement was indeed the hiding place of a group of robbers. The body was there because one of the tourists found out about this hiding place and got interested in it. Unfortunately, the gang caught him and got rid of the unwanted witness. However, they had not yet had time to remove his body. And visits to the castle were banned precisely because one of the tourists disappeared. But at that time neither Mark nor Emily had known about it.

The first thing the young woman wanted to do after seeing the dead body was to put as much distance as possible between that place and herself. She rushed to the stairs, but in the dark she tripped over a box. She got up and went forward again. Somehow she managed to find a way out and climb up. Mark followed. They were in the main hall again, and Emily sat back onto her backpack. Uncontrollable tears streamed down her face. Her hands shook. Mark sat down next to her. Both were silent. Nobody knows how long they stayed like that. Both lost track of time. A man's body lay in the basement, a blizzard continued to rage outside the window, and the wind groaned as it chased through the rooms of the empty castle. And two little figures sat in the great hall, listening to the wrath of nature and the beating of their own hearts.

"That man ..." Mark finally began.

"No. Please don't talk about it."

"Fine".

Pause again. It was getting very cold. Without noticing it, they moved closer to each other.

"I didn't submit the article on time because I couldn't write in an upset state."

"Why were you upset?"

"Because my boyfriend dumped me."

Mark laughed.

"That's no excuse."

Emily smiled.

"Strange, isn't it? For some reason, fate sent me on this adventure with you. With a man who hates me."

"I don't hate you."

Even in the darkness, Emily saw his piercing deep gaze. It was very quiet in the castle. And very cold. Very cold. And the young woman regretted her words a few hours ago. If she had to die, she would choose no one but Mark to die with.

"Maaaark! Emilyyyy!" It was Mr. Parker's voice. They were miraculously saved.